Maha Kumbh Mela - Pilgrimage of 100 million

Happening right now (from 14 Jan - 10 March 2013) is the largest religious gathering in the world.  Kumbh Mela is a mass pilgrimage, held every 3 years in one of four alternate places.    Although most of those attending the Kumbh Mela are Hindus, people of every caste, creed, color, and religion come  - they come to bath in the sacred river.  A dip in the sacred river at this "auspicious time" is believed to liberate one from the sins of past lives, to bring one closer to the divine.

This year the fair is held at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, the same state where the Taj Mahal is located.  Allahabad is a city at the confluence of the rivers Ganges,  Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati.

(I don't know what is meant by a "mythical" river.  I just looked it up.  The Saraswati river was referred to in the Vedic texts - oldest Sanskrit Hindu scriptures from approx 1500-500 BC. According to the texts, it would be in this area with the other rivers.  It is believed to have dried up since the time of the Vedas.)

A whole city is created for the pilgrims - 14 hospitals are set up as well! 

People are there throughout the 55-day festival, but it is estimated that over 30 million devotees took a holy dip in the river this year on one of the most auspicious days - 10 Feb 2013.  Over 100 million are expected to journey to the Kumbh Mela at some point in time over the 2 months of the festival.

Taking a dip in the holy river.  

As one article I read summed up the Kumbh -
"the Kumbh Mela epitomises both the best and the worst of India.... It is loud, dirty and dusty.  It is crowded.  However, these pale in comparison to the best of India....Imagine - wave after wave of humanity, every color, size, speaking every language ... and for what?  There is no sporting event, no rock concert.  It is quite simply, the faith that brings over 100 million people to have a bath in the holy waters of the Ganges, Yamuna and the Saraswati.  It is the readiness, nay the eagerness, with which tens of millions of Indians abandon the comfort, convenience and even the luxury of their homes to come and sleep in tents, their eyes brimming with tears of devotion and gratitude."

The Naga Sadhus are the first ones to bathe in the water.

"Naga Sadhus belong to different Akharas (which means camps).   The identification feature of Naga Sadhus include being naked with long hairs knotted with different metals and body smeared with ashes."  

India is a fascinating place...